Aussie floods affect food supply
Floods in New South Wales have left some farmers without income for an entire year and will affect food exports to New Zealand, say Aussie farmers and industry bodies.
A New South Wales Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said that during the 2020 to 2021 financial year about A$136 million (NZ$150.9m) in agricultural goods found its way to New Zealand shores.
Major exports to New Zealand included wheat, beef, fresh grapes and pork. These exports might be affected by recent flooding in New South Wales where some areas recorded their wettest year in history.
At this stage it was not possible to estimate the full impact that the current flood would have on supply chains.
However, paddocks were soaked and the effects of the weather event were being felt by farmers across the region, the spokesperson said.
Figures from New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries showed that last year $11m of fresh, chilled or frozen pork was imported from Australia, including ham and bacon.
About $220m of wheat was imported, and $11m of grapes, and $36m of beef and veal imported. The ministry could not isolate imports from New South Wales only.
Pete Arkle, chief executive of the New South Wales Farmers organisation, said this was the fourth flood this year in some areas. The recovery phase, when fences were rebuilt and crops replanted, affected farmers the most because they did not earn an income while doing this. In some areas crops had been replanted only to have seeds washed away in a new flood.
The latest flood had to be seen in a framework of the past 18 months of natural disasters that had affected food production, Arkle said.
The main commodities in the Sydney basin were leafy greens and winter vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, fruit, dairy and poultry.
Most of the production was for consumption in Sydney. The area produced about A$1 billion worth of food a year, Arkle said.
Grape growers in the Hunter Valley northwest of Sydney had been hard hit by floods this week, but the extent of the damage was still to be determined.
But there had been decent harvests despite flooding.
Local supply and pricing for leafy greens and vegetables in Sydney would be affected, Arkle said.
Ivan Lawrie, manager of business operations of the Foundation for Arable Research in New Zealand said wheat imports from Australia had been impacted by shipping constraints.
On the back of this and a global shortage of wheat because of the war in Ukraine this would have an impact on the price of bread, although it would be minimal.
Sirma Karapeeva, chief executive of the Meat Industry Association, said New Zealand imported on average 372 tonnes of beef from Australia a month. In May only 63 tonnes was imported.
This could partly be because of the flooding, but the Australian meat industry had been experiencing staff shortages and supply chain disruption which could also be to blame.
Australia had also been going through a period of herd rebuilding after years of drought and overall beef exports had decreased.